Google Scholar is a tool for finding scholarly articles. It covers all subject areas and includes content from many (but not all) publishers, as well as content in repositories and on web sites belonging to authors and research institutions.
There is a way to search Google Scholar so that your search results list will have not only the articles, pre-prints, and post-prints that are available on the open web, but also links to full-text in the library databases, when it is available. To log into Google Scholar:
Then:
Google Scholar can't do certain things that library databases are capable of, such as:
Despite the name, Google Scholar does have non-scholarly content. You will need to look at each article to determine whether it is scholarly. Here are some questions to ask:
Click here for an explanation of scholarly versus popular information sources.
Use Google Scholar | Don't use Google Scholar |
You know the title of the article you want | You want to search/browse the contents of a certain journal |
You aren't sure which database to search | You're looking for books or ebooks |
You're researching a topic that crosses into many different subject areas (multidisciplinary) | You're looking for newspapers, law journal articles, business reports, reference sources, or multimedia |
If you know the article you want, type in the information you have, such as key words from the title and the author's last name. Put keywords and phrases of two or more words in quotation marks.
If you are searching by topic, type in keywords that describe it. Put keywords and phrases of two or more words in quotation marks.
Google also provides search tips.
Please note: If you need to request accommodations with content linked to on this guide, on the basis of a disability, please contact Accessibility Resources and Services by emailing them at Disability.Services@sunyempire.edu. Requests for accommodations should be submitted as early as possible to allow for sufficient planning. If you have questions, please visit the Accessibility Resources and Services website.